JOHN KEATS’S SENSUOUS IMAGERY IN“WHEN I HAVE FEARS THAT I MAY CEASE TO BE” Suryo Tri Saksono ([email protected]) Universitas Trunojoyo, Indonesia Abstract: When I have fears that I may cease to be, by John Keats, por- trays the poet’s fear of dying young and being unable to fulfill his ideal as a writer and loses his beloved. Based on the use of sensuous imagery, it is clear that visual image dominates the use of imagery and there are two major thought groups: 1) Keats expresses his fear of dying young (lines 1-12); he fears that he will not fulfill himself as a writer (lines 1-8) and that he will lose his beloved (lines 9-12); 2) Keats resolves his fears by asserting the unimportance of love and fame in the concluding two and a half lines. Key words: visual image, organic image, kinesthetic image, fear, death, love and fame. Keats was born in 1795. He was one of the most important figures of early nineteenth-century Romanticism. Many of the ideas and themes that can be seen in Keats’s great works are essentially Romantic concerns: the beauty of nature, the relation between imagination and creativity, and the response of the passions to beauty and suffering. The theme of this poem revolves around the poet’s fear of death that might put a sudden end to his enjoy- ment of books and life generally. The spread tone of the poem is the tone of fear. The poet tells about his fear of meeting death that may stop or part him away from his books. He says that this fear always comes to him and he 93 94 TEFLIN Journal, Volume 22, Number 1, February 2011 always feels that he is close to death. He does not worry about the people around him or even cares about the joys of life but he only worries about not being able to achieve his writings and ideas before he dies. That is what makes him worry the most. He worries that death may come to him before he makes a huge harvest of philosophical books and ideas. The poet tells that this fear makes him pessimistic all the time. When he sees the clouds in the sky, he thinks that death is close to him and his worry and fear begin to increase. Though, he says, that these clouds are symbols of romanticism, they frighten him so much. The poet also tells that his fear of losing his beloved if death approaches him. He says that he feels that he will never be able to see her beautiful face. He finally says that he will lose both love and fame, because both will disappear in the air by the pass of time. In some ways, the writer treats the poem as a discourse since Fowler (1980: 80) says that viewing literature as discourse produces some unusual insights. Complexity often happens in the process of analysis, especially when it comes to the nature of the language of literature. As Brooks (1975: 3) says, the language of poetry is the language of paradox. It is not common language. Dillon (1980: 213) also warns that some poets frequently employ inversions and deletions. Fortunately, Posner (1982: 18) emphasizes that it is not a big problem. He clarifies that every word is an independent concep- tual word and, as such, able to transmit an idea, every word has (at least) one constant meaning which, when combined with the meanings of other words, contributes to the meaning of the expression as a whole. This study proceeds based on the views. METHOD This study applies The New Criticism mechanism. This approach uses close reading to analyze works of literature. Pioneers of this school of analysis are T. S. Eliot, Kenneth Burke, J. C. Ransom, Allen Tate, Cleanth Brooks, R. P. Blackmur, and Yvor Winters. In a different term, Reinhart (1980: 92) calls it as focus-interpretation (to distinguish it from vehicle- interpretation). In a way some complicated words were found, the words, then, tested against ordinary usage (Canfield, 1997: 6). Through this me- chanism, a comprehensive discussion is hopefully achieved. Saksono, John Keats’s Sensuous Imagery 95 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Keats’s sonnet follows the Shakespearean model, using the same Eng- lish form and dramatizing a series of agonizing thoughts that focus the mind. The form resembles that of many Shakespearean sonnets, in which the poet framed his discourse through “when” and “then” clauses. The poem is divided into sections of four lines each. They begin with “When,” “When,” “And when” respectively. The last section ends in the middle of the fourth line. The final section is two lines and a bit. Each sec- tion expresses a particular sentiment. In the first section Keats uses organic image “fears” but this is not of death or pain or terror but of regret. In lines 1 and 2, he regrets no time to write down his thoughts. In lines 1, 3 and 4, he regrets no time to write lots of books full of great ideas. In the second section he contemplates images, dreams and the subject matter he will not now be able to translate into poems. In the third section he says he will never more see his beloved girl friend. These first three sections deal with things that he will no longer be able to do. In the final section he tells what he will be able to do. He sees himself able to clearly contemplate the universe and able to do so until he finally fades away and dies. By reading line 1 and then jumping forward to read this last section readers will encompass what he can do. Below is the poem. John Keats (1795-1821) When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be 1817 When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charact’ry, Hold like rich garners the full ripen’d grain; When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face, 5 Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows with the magic hand of chance; And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, 10 Never have relish in the fairy power Of unreflecting love—then on the shore 96 TEFLIN Journal, Volume 22, Number 1, February 2011 Of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink. (Kennedy, X. J. and Gioia, Dana, 2005: 504) “When I have fears that I may cease to be” addresses the philosophical concept in three ways. First, Keats expresses concerns that death might prematurely take away his art and his longing for the fame of being an ac- complished poet. Second, he worries that death might interrupt his quest for man’s existence. This concern for the absolute, universal and God can be identified with the Romantic poets. Keats’s ability to use this philosophy in his poetry allows the readers to see nature, imagination and reality in a dif- ferent perspective. Skilleas (2001: 129) emphasizes that literature is usually philosophical. Third, he fears that death will come before he has achieved the tran- scendent experience of love without worries. The final lines are a synthesis of the problem in a way that precariously avoids despair. Keats’s fears turn to thoughts that both “fame” and “love” are doomed in the end to “nothing- ness.” The three organic images indicate a close relation among them, at least they show respective occurrences. His final fear, which is the fate of “high romance” or man’s soul remains unresolved in the poem. One gets a sense of the beautiful but sublime as Keats contemplates that which is most dear to him perishing. Based on his family’s sufferings from dreaded disease, he reflected on the possibility that art, by uniting truth and beauty in a single sublime expe- rience, might possess the power to overcome the world of pain and death. This would redeem man’s doubts and uncertainties through spiritual tran- scendence. By identifying completely with an experience, the poet goes beyond the rational meaning of his own existence, thus doubts and fears could be overcome. As a Romantic poet Keats identified with human emo- tions within. This unconscious level of awareness enabled one to reach a full appreciation and acceptance of emotion. Fear is an emotion in the poem and an integral part of experience. The identification of fear, or facing it directly, may help one to overcome it. Thus, the greatest fears, such as death, may become revealed or faced through the intense thinking that accompanies writing a poem. This is the unconscious level that is the creative force in humans as explored by the Romantic poets such as Keats. The following is the discussion per quatrain, especially the use of sensuous imagery throughout the poem. Saksono, John Keats’s Sensuous Imagery 97 First Quatrain In the first quatrain, the speaker expresses his consternation that he might die before he has had a chance to do all of the writing he wants to do. He has a “teeming brain” full of ideas, images, and thoughts that he hopes to write about and fill books. He wants to write so many books that they will be piled high. He wants his books to be filled with mature writing that fills out cha- racters and that examines his thoughts and ideas and presents them ready for public consumption.